Beautifully awful. Its basically a MadTV skit... but done with complete sincerity! Everything about this is atrocious and it's the reason I love it! So audacious from the studio to ask us to take this seriously.

John Cusack's impeccable performance isn't enough to lighten up this badly-acted and sordid spectacle. Although it manages to create the dark, suspense-ish environment it wants to envelope us in, it nonetheless fails in letting us in. We feel miserably distant from all the action and mystery, being presented with a story that is historically incorrect and incongruent and a predictable yet absurd answer to the crime.

Hard to believe this is from the same guy who did the excellent "V for Vendetta". Weak cast, unlikable characters, stupid death scenes. And let's not get started on the whole "EMILY! EMILY! EMILY! EMILY!".
John Cusack as usual makes the same arrogant, neurotic, trying to be funny act from all of his movies, only this time he's Edgar Allan Poe. Not impressed.

Cheesy fun. The whole premise was so ridiculous that corny moments were probably unavoidable. Cusack seemed very out of place at first and never quite felt like he was from the time period, but he gave it so much effort and was so likable in the role that it didn't really bother me in the end. It could've had a more mind-blowing conclusion, but the ride was entertaining enough to make it not a huge deal.

I wish the popular Poe fascination produced some interesting work, but I'm not seeing it, and definitely not here. Strange characterization and a bad script. I couldn't even take this one for a full half hour.